Egg processor seeks appeal of latest ruling

Friday, August 2, 2013

by BETTER FARMING STAFF

An Ontario Superior Court judge has ruled that allegations in a long-running claim against several players in Ontario’s egg industry will remain intact for now.

But Allison Webster, the lawyer for L.H. Gray and Son Limited, which had asked for some of the allegations to be removed, says the company plans to appeal the decision that was released in late July.

The Strathroy company is among several industry players that Sweda Farms Ltd., once the province’s third largest egg grader, alleges conspired to put it, and related affiliates, out of business. Burnbrae Farms Limited and Egg Farmers of Ontario, the province’s supply-managed marketing board, are some of the others listed in Sweda’s claim. No allegations have been proven in court.

In May, Webster asked Judge Carole Brown to grant a partial summary judgement to remove Sweda’s allegations that L.H. Gray had fraudulently manipulated egg grades, deliberately sold to market cracked and dirty eggs and conspired with others to do so. She, as well as Sweda’s lawyer, Donald Good, and his co-counsel, Robert Morrow, made most of their arguments concerning the motion behind closed doors in a Toronto courtroom because of the court-sealed documents under discussion.

On Tuesday, Webster said that she had served notice of leave to appeal the decision on Good and other counsel.

“We don’t feel that she (Judge Brown) properly applied the facts of the case to the law,” Webster said. “And so we feel there’s merit to seeking leave to appeal.”

Describing the decision as “interlocutory” rather than a “final order,” Webster said the first step is to ask the court for permission to appeal. If leave is obtained, “we then have an opportunity to appeal the decision” before the Ontario Court of Appeal.

Webster says Brown found that a full trial was required to determine the issues. “She wasn’t prepared to deal with the issues that were before her in a summary fashion.”

Webster says a date for L.H. Gray’s motion to appeal Brown’s decision will be set in the next couple of weeks.

“I don’t agree with the decision; I think it’s flawed but it will be up to a judge at some point to let us know whether or not he or she agrees that we have that ability to appeal,” she says.

Good could not be reached for comment. BF